Posted by Som
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:24:00 GMT
A few years ago, I picked up a couple of plain wood trays on sale at Michael's. The first ended up in the hands of my daughters, who plastered it with Hello Kitty stickers and drew crayon portraits of vegetables on the sides and bottom. The second sat, neglected, in the garage until this past week, when I decided I needed something else to paint.
This was a quick, simple project, but it's already been terribly useful. The tray keeps all of my tea-making supplies nice and tidy, and it's the perfect size for transporting a pitcher full of tea and two tiny cups from the kitchen to the living room.
The gaiwan in this photo - the little brown clay cup with a lid, decorated with orchids - met an untimely demise when it developed a hairline crack as I poured hot water into it a couple of days ago. I'd only had it since Christmas, so I e-mailed the company my husband bought it from - Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco. They responded quickly with an apology and an offer of a refund or store credit. I took the credit, of course, and ordered a new gaiwan, along with another pitcher, some new tasting cups, and a couple of their Pu-erhs.
So I have to say that Imperial Tea Court is a fantastic company offering delightful teas, teapots, and tea-making accessories you won't find anywhere else on the web, and they have wonderful customer service to boot! I'm particularly pleased with their Yunnan Pu-erh, which is affordably priced and brews up with the distinctive, calming smell of topsoil after a hard spring rain. Absolutely delicious.
Posted in tea | Tags accoutrements, puerh | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Som
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:46:00 GMT
I like to keep a variety of origami papers around, just in case I'm suddenly in need of a nice, repetetive activity. Today was such a day, and I found a wonderful use for some stiff, patterned origami paper I've had lying around for ages: bookmarks!
I'm always in the middle of three or four books at once, but I hate spending lots of money on bookmarks that I'm going to lose anyway, so these are a great solution: plentiful, cute, and cheap! The design is very simple, but I think it showcases the ornamental papers nicely. I'm going to keep them in a pretty bowl on the bookshelf. The bookmarks fit over the corner of a page, like so:
I found the origami instructions on this googlecached now-defunct webpage. To make your folds nice and sharp, use a bone folder or the blunt edge of a butter knife. You can find origami papers at your local craft store; make sure you use paper that's 4" square or smaller.
Tags origami | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Som
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:48:00 GMT
For the past week, I've been pretty much stuck in the house because of the ice storm that hit here in Oklahoma last weekend. Ariana's preschool has been out all week, and it's cancelled again tomorrow.
On the plus side, this gave me some much-needed crafting time. Nothing motivates me to dive wholeheartedly into a project like cabin fever! First project: Painting a wood dollhouse.
My parents bought the dollhouse for my daughters this Christmas. It's Plan Toys' "Victorian Dollhouse," pictured below:
And after a week of sanding, priming, taping, and painting, this is the finished result:
The primer and topcoat sealant is Sophisticated Finishes Primer and Clear Sealer. The paint is all FolkArt acrylic: door, "Hauser Green Light;" roof, "Slate Blue;" trim, "Wicker White;" and main body, "Cardinal Red."
I haven't painted the interior of the house, and right now I don't have any plans to do so. Painting around the staircases would be a special challenge requiring a brush with a right-angled handle and a dentist's mirror to see around the corners, and I can't say I'm feeling up to that right now.
But all in all, I'm very happy with how the house turned out. It looks much better now.
Tags painting | 1 comment | no trackbacks
